50,000 join jubilant West Coast Walk for Life in San Francisco

Johanna Dasteel

January 28, 2013

LifeSiteNews.com

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, January 26, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Organizers estimate that over 50,000 people walked, sang, chanted and prayed in the 9th annual Walk for Life West Coast Saturday. The air was jubilant as the crowd of pro-lifers from as far away as Maine walked the two miles from City Hall to the Ferry building, passing through neighborhoods dotted alternately with large banks and government, and strip clubs, homeless people and old men crowded around chess boards.

It was beautiful and sunny day, with very little of the infamous San Francisco winds. The crowd was mostly comprised of youth, the survivors of the now 40 years of abortion on demand, ushered in by the 1973 Roe v Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Anyone spending the day downtown was aware that something was going on, since streets were jammed with traffic for hours. City-bound traffic on the 101 Freeway was backed up for over a mile well past 3:30 pm.

Nearing the rally point, chanting and music wafted through the air. Young people were playing percussion instruments and Native American women were performing traditional dances.

Before the main rally began, the Silent No More Awareness Campaign stage hosted 26 post-abortive women from around the U.S. They shared their stories of regret while holding signs that said, “I regret my abortion.” Men held signs that said, “I regret lost fatherhood.”

Georgette Forney, president of the campaign, stood by each woman as they took the microphone, comforting and supporting them while the crowd of tearful faces stood silent.

Deborah Schneider was one of those women. She traveled with a group of Silent No More women from Phoenix. Speaking to the crowd, she explained that her abortion happened in the “earlier days” when abortionists didn’t care to hide the fruit of their labor. The “jars of body parts” of the dead children of women who had walked into that room before her were on display around the room. She said, “I felt like I had just experienced the worst form of sexual assault I could ever imagine, with the private parts of my body grossly violated and my baby dead.”